Armed robbers kill driver in Benue
Armed robbers at the weekend killed a luxurious bus driver at Eke village in Ugbokolo community along OtukpoEnugu road in Benue State.
Our correspondent gathered that the robbers had laid a siege on the spoilt portion of the road at about 2:30am on Saturday when the vehicle, which was coming from Onitsha in Anambara State, ran into them.
It was learnt that the robbers opened fire on the occupants of the bus and the commercial driver was instantly killed.
The deceased’s colleagues, who also ply the route, used their various long buses to block the road, thereby denying other motorists passage through the highway either to the north or south of the country.
The protesters blocked the road for several hours and caused serious gridlock as they defied persuasions from the police and vigilante to open the road for users.
It took the intervention of the state’s deputy governor, Engr. Benson Abounu, who travelled for two hours from Makurdi to the scene of the incident, to prevail over the protesting drivers to shelve their grievances to enable the government look into the matter. The protesters have argued that the area was notorious for robbery activities occasioned by the dilapidation of the road and that they had over the years suffered molestation in the hands of the dare devils on that route.
Contacted, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), for the Benue Command, Moses Joel Yamu, confirmed the incident, adding that the police were already on the trail of the armed robbery suspects even as investigation into the matter has commenced. Meanwhile, the body of the deceased driver had been deposited in a hospital morgue at Ugbokolo in Okpokwu local government area of the state.